THE man leading a review of the health authorities in the region has declared he is in favour of a single body serving Merseyside and Cheshire.

Rob Wall, who is on sabbatical from his role as chief executive of Sefton Health Authority, wants the six authorities in the area to merge into one strategic organisation.

He believes the new authority could be in operation as early as April next year.

Last month, the Daily Post revealed that the six chairmen and chief executives from the region's health authorities were discussing how to implement the Government's planned reforms to the NHS, before putting their ideas out to public consultation.

In April, Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, declared that the number of health authorities in the UK would be cut from the current figure of 99 to 30, if Labour are returned to power.

Mr Wall, project director of the group looking at the future of health authorities in the region, said: 'There is a slight preference for a single health authority in Merseyside and Cheshire.

'We haven't had discussions with local GPs, consultants and Community Health Councils yet, but we will be soon.'

Mr Wall revealed that two other options were being considered. These are:

-Two health authorities broadly based on the areas of Merseyside and Cheshire;

-The current six authorities merging into three bodies; Sefton would join Liverpool; St Helens would go with North Cheshire, and South Cheshire would pair up with Wirral.

He claimed the pairing up option was the 'least attractive'.

The eventual change would come at the same time as the introduction of primary care trusts (PCTs), who are taking over many of the responsibilities of health authorities.

These local bodies, each with their own management structure, are responsible for providing primary health-care services, including GPs and high street dentists.

Mr Wall added: 'PCTs will be the leading organisations at a local level.'

He claimed the new system would cut down on bureaucracy and waste.

Local community health councils have raised concerns that a radical restructuring of the health authorities should not occur too quickly. They say it would cause severe disruption and could undermine patient care if it happened as PCTs were introduced.

In contrast, Mr Wall believes the sooner change is implemented, the better. He said: 'Uncertainty is not helpful. Staff need to know where they are going to be working.

'As we carry on as on old-style health authority, we can't devolve people and skills to allow PCTs to do their jobs properly.

'But if you make PCT and health authority change at the same time you can be flexible and free up resources and pass them to PCTs.

'From some points of view, it's slightly riskier to have PCTs coming on stream as we are changing health authorities, but it has the advantage of concentrating organisational change into a shorter period of time, allowing us to focus on lowering waiting lists, plus heart disease and lung cancer cases.'